My Goodness, Yes! Silver Fox Soul Collection CD

In the 1960s, Lelan Rogers ran one of America's most crazed psychedelic labels, the Texas-based International Artists Records (any outfit that can dig up the 13th Floor Elevators, the Red Krayola, and the Bubble Puppy is obviously in touch with their lysergic nature), but his next venture, the lesser-known Silver Fox Records imprint, found Rogers embracing his love of soul music. Between 1968 and 1970, Silver Fox (which Rogers operated with Shelby Singleton, best known as the man who took over Sun Records from Sam Phillips) released a handful of superb soul and R&B sides, and the cream of their output is collected on this fine compilation. Silver Fox's strongest suit was giving veteran acts a chance to strut their stuff doing something new, and My Goodness, Yes! includes some excellent sides from Hank Ballard (delivering a superb deep soul reading of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down"), "Big" Al Downing (the tough and funky "Cornbread Row"), Robert Parker (a New Orleans-flavored reading of Allen Toussaint's "You See Me"), and Bettye Lavette (sounding quite sassy on "Games People Play" and "Do Your Duty"). Elsewhere, you get an oddly proud paean to infidelity in Willie Hobbs's "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em," Marilyn Haywood's tribute to her own womanly charms "Mama's Baby (Ain't a Baby No More)," the topical but still powerful "Cryin' in the Streets" from George Perkins & the Silver Stars, a high-gloss cover of "Pledging My Love" by Laura Greene and Johnny McKinnis, and lots more. Anyone with a taste for classic Southern soul will find a lot to like in My Goodness, Yes!; these 20 minor hits and lost classics show Rogers and Singleton had an ear for a good song and a good singer, and the quality packaging and remastering shows these tracks the respect they deserve. ~ Mark Deming

Liner Note Author: Bill Dahl.